


A Hundred Worlds

by anaklusmos



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: AUs, F/M, More characters to be added, Percabeth AUs
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-19
Updated: 2015-12-27
Packaged: 2018-05-07 15:58:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,365
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5462480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anaklusmos/pseuds/anaklusmos
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Various Percabeth AUs, because this couple deserves happiness in every single universe.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Morning After

**Author's Note:**

> #1-“hey we hooked up last night and it turns out you are my child's teacher” au modified to "hey we hooked up last night and turns out you are my professors kid" featuring flustered Annabeth and smirk-ey Percy.
> 
> Mentions of alcohol, if that stuff bothers you :)
> 
> Edited in a bit of a rush, so I apologize for any mistakes!

Annabeth’s phone buzzed and she opened a text message from Piper.

_Coffee. Please. I love you._

She typed out a quick reply. _This hangover is your fault. Do you DESERVE coffee?_

_Piper: :(_

_Piper: Don’t pretend you didn’t have fun. That boy was cute af._

_Yes,_ Annabeth typed, _he was cute and I was so drunk I threw up on his shoes while we were making out and passed out when we got home._ When she had woken up, she found herself in the apartment she shared with Piper and a note on the door.

‘Hope your hangover isn’t too bad. Wasn’t sure which bedroom was yours, so I left you on the couch, sorry. See you soon. –Percy :),’ the note read. That was it. No number, no way of Annabeth contacting him to apologize profusely for the damage she had done to his shoes. Just the note, his name, and a little smiley face.

 Annabeth sighed and tried to forget her embarrassment.  It’s not like she would ever have to meet Percy again. The lack of a phone number on the note made that clear enough. She smiled as the barista at the coffee shop, a dark skinned girl with curly hair the colour of burnt gold handed her the coffees. She looked vaguely familiar, but Annabeth couldn’t place her.

“Have a nice day!” the barista said to Annabeth.

“You too,” Annabeth replied. Before she could say anything else, she heard someone calling her name. Annabeth looked over and saw her lit teacher, Professor Jackson waving at her, smiling warmly. She was sharing a table with a boy with a smirk on his face who -- _oh gods_ , Annabeth thought, cursing her luck, _it was Percy_. She was already halfway to the table, too late to turn back, so she prayed that she wasn’t blushing _too_ much, and approached them.

“Annabeth! It’s lovely to see you here,” her professor said warmly. “This is my son, Percy,” she said, pointing at him. Percy had a smirk that told her that yep, he remembered everything about last night. She hoped her tan hid just how much she was blushing.

“Nice to meet you, Annabeth,” he said, shaking her hand.

“Nice to meet you too,” she said.

“Percy just got back from a field assignment,” Sally explained.

“Oh, uh, cool,” Annabeth said. She realized that that wasn’t a sufficient enough reply and added, “Where was the assignment?”

“Australia. I’m studying marine biology, so we got to study the reef there.” The smirk on his face was still there, not helping Annabeth maintain her composure.

 _Australia, huh.That explains the super-hot tan during winter, then_ , she thought, and immediately chastised herself.  “Oh, that’s cool,” she said. Annabeth turned to Sally. “I should get going,” she said, “Piper is waiting for her coffee.”

“Oh that’s a shame! I would have loved to have you join us!”

Annabeth mumbled something about assignments and how she wouldn’t want to intrude, waved to the occupants of the table, and ran out with the little dignity she had left.

 

* * *

 

 

A few days later, Annabeth walked out of her last lecture before break and saw Percy leaning on the wall outside the hall. His hair looked windswept, he was wearing a t-shirt that did amazing things to his biceps, and of course, he was smirking.  Her heart, much to her annoyance, did a little flip in her chest. _Gods,_ she thought, _he was gorgeous._

“Hey Annabeth, is my mom in there?” he asked.

“Oh, um, yeah,” she replied.

“Cool. She’s been swamped with papers to grade, so I thought I’d bring her some lunch. She tends to forget to eat,” he said with a grin.

“That’s really sweet of you,” she said.

“Nah, it wasn’t too much trouble.” He looked at her for a moment. “Hey, you want---“

“Listen, I’m sorry about the shoe thing,” she interrupted. “I still can’t believe I did that and I kinda thought I’d never see you but I’m glad I did because now I can pay you back and maybe feel less guilty, because right now I feel terrible, and my friend Piper finds it hilarious but I--” she paused to take a breath.

“You feel terrible? You’re not going to throw up, are you? I really like these shoes,” Percy teased.

Annabeth buried her face in her hands. “Please don’t,” she groaned.

Percy laughed. “Its fine, Annabeth.” He was silent for a moment. “Is that why you never called? Because you were embarrassed?” Annabeth looked up at him. He said the words in a casual tone, but his eyes gave away the earnestness in his question.

“I never called because you never left your number,” she said.

Percy blinked.

“I forgot to leave my number?”

Annabeth nodded.

“Seriously?”

Annabeth nodded again.

“Gods, it’s like I’ve got seaweed for brains.”

“Well, seaweed brain,” Annabeth teased, “I’m here now. You can give me your number, you know. Or have you forgotten that too?”

Percy grinned. “Alright, alright. You are _so_ not making things easy for me, wise girl.”

"I am never,  _ever_  going to make things easy for you,” Annabeth said, returning the smile.


	2. the right notes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> #2- 'my neighbor is a musician AU' ft lonely annabeth and violinist percy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What I listened to while writing:  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L13_2FUqbrQ  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLiTgiyKJ44  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2gJM2K5OsQ (this one isn't connected to the plot but aaah, its so pretty!)

Annabeth loved the city. There was always something to do or something to look at, which her ADHD brain appreciated. The fact that she _finally_ was free of her step-family was a plus too, but she preferred to focus more on the positives of her new city than on the negatives of her old home.

One thing she didn’t like was how lonely she often found herself. Sure, she had made friends from work, but it was nothing like what she had back home, where she could pop into Mrs. Harrison-from-next-door’s house for cookies, or Silena’s and Charlie’s whenever she felt like talking to someone. Annabeth had a vague idea of their daily routines, but she barely knew any of her neighbour’s names. Whenever she felt alone, she would text Piper or Thalia, but they were busy too, which she completely understood, but still sucked.

Like tonight. Annabeth had returned from work, exhausted to a point where she could barely taste what she was eating for dinner. After she was done, she lay down on the couch and tried to concentrate on her book, but she found herself reading the same sentence over and over again. The book was some murder-mystery-- Annabeth’s guilty pleasure, which didn’t always make for _great_ writing, but this story was hitting her close to home. The protagonist was talking about how she had no family, no one but her work, and Annabeth had the painful realisation that that could be loosely used to describe her life. All she wanted to do at that moment was call her dad, but her pride stopped her. It was _her_ who essentially ran away from home, moving out as soon as she had just enough of money. There had been yelling, mostly on her part, some on her step mother’s part. Her father had been silent, infuriatingly so. Some masochistic part of her wanted him to scream, to yell at her, telling her that he regretted ever meeting her mother and that he would be happier if she was never born. But he didn’t. He said no such things, and Annabeth was left to assume that that was what he was thinking. She left in the morning, before her father woke up and put a pot of coffee to brew like he had done every day for as long as she could remember. She packed hurriedly, or as hurriedly as one could when trying to fit twenty one years of life into two suitcases. The truth was that she wished things were different. Not with her step-mother and her, but with Annabeth and her father. She had never felt like she belonged in the family he had found for himself, but _goddamnit_ he was her family and she missed him more than she knew was possible.

She had two choices; put that bottle of vodka she had hidden away in some cupboard to good use, or call her father.

She chose the former.

Or well, she was about to, when she heard the sound of someone playing the violin from the apartment below hers.

It took her a second to place the music, but when she did, she felt like she was seven years old again, and dancing with her father to his Beatles’ records. The two of them would watch old black and white movies together, and then her father would take out his records and the two of them would dance together, without a care in the world. ‘Let It Be’ had been her favourite song for years now and the mystery violinist was reminding her why. She had always associated the violin with classical music, but the Beatles’ song seemed to have been made to be played on the violin by this stranger on a night that Annabeth needed it most. It brought back a flood of nostalgia, and Annabeth picked up the phone.

He picked up on the second ring.

“Hello?”

Annabeth cried for the first time in months.

~~\---------------------------------------~~

 

Annabeth wanted to scream. She wanted to yell and break things and slam her fist into a wall and— _No_ —she told herself. She refused to give him the satisfaction of seeing her falling apart. Not after, _gods_ , not after what she had seen.

She and Luke had been dating for months; long enough for him to start meaning something to her. She had a long lunch break and chose to visit him in his apartment, only to find him with some other girl. To say she had been shocked was an understatement. He hadn’t been acting distant, no, he was as loving as usual. But there he was, lips pressed against some other girl.

_“I’m sorry,” the girl had said, “I didn’t know he had a girlfriend.” She seemed genuine, but Annabeth wasn’t quite sure how that was supposed to make her feel. Was she supposed to feel better, or was the girl easing her own guilt at the cost of Annabeth’s feelings?”_

_“Yeah well, he doesn’t anymore.”_

Her phone vibrated, lighting up with Luke’s familiar face. Annabeth wondered what piteous excuse he’d come up with. Annoyed, she flung her phone at the wall. The battery clattered out and the phone finally, _finally_ shut up. She flopped down on her sofa.

All of a sudden, she heard the sound of a violin again. Instead of the Beatles, she now heard Panic! At The Disco, which seemed slightly strange, but also once again, like the notes of ‘This Is Gospel’ were written for the sole purpose of being played by the mystery violinist. She closed her eyes and listened to the music, singing along in her head. If they messed up in a few places, Annabeth didn’t realise. She felt herself calming down with each passing second, until she was asleep, thoughts of Luke banished from her head.

 

~~\---------------------------------------~~

 

She heard the sound of the violin again, but this time from outside the apartment of the mystery violinist. Annabeth had been heading up to her apartment, cursing broken elevators when the music started. She was drawn to the door, longing to get closer to this source of music that had, unknown to its creator, been a comfort for Annabeth.

This time, the notes of the violin were accompanied by what Annabeth guessed was a cello. The two instruments blended seamlessly to form the notes of some classical song she couldn’t identify. The music was beautiful, and Annabeth was transfixed. She didn’t notice when it stopped, and only came back to her senses when the door of the apartment opened.

“Good luck with that on the subway,” a voice was saying. The pair who had just exited the apartment spotted Annabeth. One was a girl with dark skin and hair the colour of burnt gold. She was lugging a huge black case that likely housed the cello that Annabeth had heard before. The other was a boy with eyes so green Annabeth wondered if he was wearing contacts. Her first thought was _gods, he is beautiful._

“Hey,” the boy said to Annabeth, making it sound more like a question than a statement.

“Oh um, I was just listening to the music. You guys sounded great,” she explained, fiddling with the hem of her jacket.

“Thank you,” the girl said, smiling warmly. “Well Percy, I’m off. I have a date with Frank, and he’s apparently been planning this for _months_ ,” she said, giving Percy a hug. She gave Annabeth a small wave and walked off, doing her best to avoid bumping the cello case on the walls.

“I’ve heard you playing before. You’re uh, really good,” Annabeth said somewhat awkwardly to the boy she now knew was Percy.

The tips of his ears turned slightly pink. “Thank you,” he said, “I usually do covers of songs from this century, but Hazel is old school and insists that the classics are the best.” Percy thought for a second. “I’m sorry if the music disturbed you. I didn’t realise how thin the walls are.”

“That’s fine,” Annabeth said, smiling. “I’m glad you play the violin, and not the bongo drums.”

Percy laughed. “That was my backup plan, in case my career as a violinist failed.”

“You’re a professional violinist then?”

“Nope, it’s just a hobby. I’m in my fourth year of college,” he explained. “What about you?”

“I have a job at a newspaper, and I’m taking night classes,” she said. Percy nodded. They were both silent for a moment.

“Do you want to come inside? Hazel brought doughnuts from what I personally assure you is the best bakery in New York, and I have enough to share. Plus, I can play for you, if you want,” he said with a grin.

Annabeth, returning the smile said, “Sure, but I may have a few special requests.”

“I look forward to hearing them,” he said, opening the door.

Annabeth had enjoyed the mystery of not having a name and face for her violinist, but she discovered that she enjoyed meeting and getting to know her mystery violinist far more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for any mistakes! I've lost all patience while editing :/  
> If you have any AUs you'd like to see me write, tell me down in the comments


End file.
